Paris Commune wall of the Lachaise Cemetery
Morrow-Wautier Wall
May 28 this year is the 150th anniversary of the defeat of the world's first proletarian regime, the Paris Commune in France, and on May 28, 1871, in the city of Paris, the last group of members of the Paris Commune who heroically resisted were shot and killed en masse in front of a wall in the Lachaise Cemetery, which was called the "Paris Commune Wall". Today, 150 years later, the Paris Commune, in its birthplace, paris, is forgotten or commemorated by more people.
Two Paris commune walls
For more than half a century, people from all over the world have said that what they saw in Paris was the wall of the Paris Commune that was snubbed and unsung, lamenting "the forgetfulness of Parisians" and lamenting . The Association of Friends of the Paris Commune, which is recognized as "directly inheriting the mantle of the Paris Commune," has repeatedly stated that not only are the walls of the Paris Commune often worshipped, but they also hold grand commemorations there every May 28. Which is true? As early as 1982, The famous French historian and writer Shen Dali, who was then an associate professor of the French Department of the Beijing Institute of Foreign Chinese, went to Paris in person, and with the help of local scholars, finally found out the truth about the Paris Commune Wall.
It turned out that the "Paris Commune Wall" with the relief of "Mother's Open Arms", which had been featured as an illustration in the history textbooks of China and many countries, was a fake: in 1909, the Paris City Council commissioned the fanatical chauvinist sculptor Paul Morrow-Voltier to build a memorial wall called "Victims of the Revolution" on the Gambe da Boulevard in Paris, which confused parisian commune members with government soldiers who slaughtered them, as well as "victims" killed by members during the Paris Commune, as " The victims of the revolution "sculpted together." Since the wall was not in fact a memorial to the members of the Paris Commune, it was never recognized by the members and their descendants.
However, after World War II, because many historical memories were diluted by war and time, even many people in the French Communist Party once mistakenly believed that the "Morro-Voltier Wall" was the Wall of the Paris Commune, and solemnly presented a 1:1 replica of this wall to the Lenin Museum in Moscow, resulting in a series of false rumors. In Paris, however, this error was soon discovered by organizations such as the "Association of Friends of the Paris Commune", so that the "Morro-Voltier Wall" was boycotted and snubbed in front of the natural gates. Some unidentified foreign visitors saw this scene and mistakenly thought that "the staff wall was forgotten by the Parisians", while other researchers saw that the wall was not in the Lachaise Cemetery and took it for granted that "because it was neglected, it had to be relocated to a different place for protection".
The real Paris Commune wall, located on the edge of the Lachaise cemetery near the Rue de la Circus, is gray and white, and after the sacrifice of the Paris Commune members, many citizens rushed here to offer flowers in spite of the authorities' ban, and after the ban was lifted, they raised funds to inlaid a marble slab inscribed on the wall with the words "Dedicated to the Victims of the Commune, May 21-28, 1871". For 150 years, this unpretentious wall, soaked in the blood of the Paris Commune members, has been a holy place for parisians and descendants of the commune members to hang, and every day in the corner of the wall, you can see the flowers offered by the bearers.
The Paris Commune in the minds of Parisians
Due to the brutal repression and stigmatization of the Paris Commune, french society was divided, and in March 1879, the French National Assembly passed a resolution on "partial amnesty" for the members of the Paris Commune, and on July 11 of the following year, a "general amnesty" was declared. But the survivors and sympathizers of the Paris Commune believe that the "amnesty" is tantamount to a disguised admission of the "guilt" of the Paris Commune, which is not enough to bridge the social rift, and they persistently seek to rehabilitate the Paris Commune.
Fierce debates and games continued from the French Third Republic to the Fifth Republic, until November 29, 2016, when the French National Assembly finally passed a resolution formally and completely rehabilitating the Paris Commune and restoring the right to reputation of all its members.
At present, in France, in addition to the right and far right still holding reservations or stigmatizing attitudes towards the Paris Commune, the vast majority of French people have been able to evaluate the Paris Commune positively and objectively, and commemorating the Paris Commune has become a completely legitimate act. But the same "remembrance" and "commemoration" have different starting points, the center-left or liberals are more out of "fraternity" and "humanity", and still often confuse the victims of the enemy sides of the Paris Commune, while left-wing organizations such as the "Paris Commune Friends Association" and the emerging "Left Party" continue to emphasize the "revolutionary nature of the Commune", as a French historian put it, different interpretations of the same Paris Commune, "just as there are different versions of the Marseille in France".
The Cherry Season and the Sacred Heart Cathedral
March 18 this year marks the 150th anniversary of the paris commune revolution, on which a grand commemoration was held in Paris, and the participants held a sign that reads "I will always love the cherry season", which is a common ode to the remembrancers of the Paris Commune. During "Blood Week in May", Clement, a member of the commune, met Louis, a brave young female worker and 22-year-old volunteer field nurse, on the battlefield and witnessed her heroic sacrifice. Clement, who was exiled to Belgium, looked at the lush cherry trees and was touched by the scenery, and wrote the poem "Cherry Season" as a memorial to the Paris Commune. The poem was later composed, and for a hundred years, almost all the famous French singers with progressive positions have performed "Cherry Season" in different ways. The latest recorded version of "Cherry Season" so far was launched by singer Baez in 2019. On the recent anniversary of the "Blood Week in May", the "Association of Friends of the Paris Commune" launched a commemoration of the Paris Commune Wall, and the participants still sang "Cherry Season". Whether or not to appreciate "Cherry Season" has become a yardstick for "progress" for more than a hundred years.
It is impossible to mention the Paris Commune Wall without mentioning the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris, which is the forbidden place for sympathizers of the Paris Commune in France. The church was built in 1873 by the Catholic Church in Paris, with the support of the French government at the time, to promote the adoption of the French National Assembly in honor of the Archbishop of Paris, Dalboy, who was executed by the Paris Commune, and to state in the parliamentary resolution "to redeem the crimes of the members of the Paris Commune". This resolution caused strong dissatisfaction at the time, and although it was deliberately downplayed to avoid embarrassment, Parisians who have considered themselves "progressive" for a hundred years will definitely avoid this dazzling building.